Emerging star Jack Billings and veteran Nick Riewoldt were the difference as St Kilda held off Gold Coast for a 31-point AFL win.

The undermanned Suns kept pace until the last quarter with the Saints, who did enough for the 14.19 (103) to 10.12 (72) result on Sunday at Etihad Stadium despite blowing plenty of chances.

It followed another scrappy win last week over North Melbourne and means the Saints scraped back into the top eight on percentage.

Injury-ravaged Gold Coast suffered another blow early in the last quarter of the twilight match when Pearce Hanley was forced out of the game.

The half-back had been the Suns’ best player on Sunday before suffering his hamstring injury.

Six of the seven Suns’ changes for this game were forced, headed by star onballer Gary Ablett.

A calf injury forced Ablett to sit out what would have been his 300th game.

But Gold Coast kept swapping the lead with the inaccurate Saints and led by seven points late in the second quarter.

After Saints forward Jade Gresham provided a game highlight with his second-term hanger over Jack Leslie, Billings and Riewoldt cut loose.

Billings set up Riewoldt for two of his three goals and then kicked one himself.

That gave the Saints a 12-point lead at the main break.

Billings was best afield with a game-high 30 disposals and in a game short on highlights, stood out with his excellent skills.

The emerging star has played every game this season and is well on the way to realising his rich potential.

Riewoldt kicked his third goal at the start of the last quarter and was also dangerous with eight marks.

His one blemish came later in the final quarter when he marked and went to run into goal, only to kick a behind as Leslie mowed him down with a tackle.

As Riewoldt provided a target at one end, Suns co-captain Tom Lynch continued to struggle at the other and he went goal-less.

Running defender Jarrod Harbrow and midfielder Touk Miller impressed as they returned for the Suns.